Lawn mowers are known which carry grass baggers for collecting grass clippings. One well known type of grass bagger is mounted at the rear of a riding mower. The bagger has a transversely extending hood behind the mower with a plurality of grass collecting bags received beneath the hood. The grass clippings entering the hood fall out from the hood into the bags. When the bags are filled with grass clippings, the bags can be removed from beneath the hood and emptied. The bags can then be reinstalled beneath the hood to catch and collect more grass clippings.
The grass clippings are directed to the grass bagger from a front mounted cutting deck through an elongated conduit or duct. A blower may be used to help propel the grass clippings through the duct. The front end of the duct is connected to the cutting deck or to the outlet of the blower. The rear end of the duct is connected to the hood of the grass bagger at an inlet.
Typically, the rear end of the duct and the grass bagger inlet have a telescopic attachment where one part is telescoped over the other. For example, the grass bagger inlet often comprises a short pipe or tube over which the rear end of the duct is telescoped. A hose clamp is used around the rear end of the duct to releasably couple the rear end of the duct to the grass bagger inlet. The hose clamp includes a screw that must be tightened to decrease the diameter of the clamp to thereby clamp the rear end of the duct to the grass bagger inlet.
While the use of a clamp to connect the duct to the grass bagger inlet is effective in keeping the duct attached to the grass bagger, it is inconvenient. As the mower is used to cut grass, it is not uncommon for grass plugs to occur at the rear end of the duct or in the grass bagger inlet. A typical grass plug simply comprises a large, compacted mass or body of grass clippings that forms in the duct or inlet. Such a plug prevents the flow of additional grass clippings through the duct and into the bagger. Plugs form more often when relatively damp or wet grass is being cut by the mower.
If a plug should form in the rear end of the duct or in the grass bagger inlet, the plug must be cleared to allow the proper and continued operation of the grass bagger. This is done by disconnecting the rear end of the duct from the grass bagger inlet to allow access to be had to the plug for clearing the plug away. However, to disconnect the rear end of the duct, the tightening screw of the hose clamp must first be loosened to allow the duct to be pulled off the grass bagger inlet. The operator must use a screwdriver to sufficiently loosen the screw on the hose clamp to allow the duct to be disconnected from the grass bagger inlet. Obviously, this requires that the operator both have a screwdriver handy and that the operator use the screwdriver to loosen the tightening screw on the hose clamp.
Moreover, once the hose clamp is loosened, the duct is removed, and the plug cleared, the duct must be reattached to the grass bagger inlet. This requires the operator to telescope the rear end of the duct back over the grass inlet and to then retighten the screw of the hose clamp to hold the duct in place. Thus, to clear a single plug from the rear end of the duct or the grass bagger inlet, the operator must loosen and retighten the hose clamp holding the duct to the grass bagger inlet. At the very least, this is inconvenient and can be quite difficult if the hose clamp has worn or corroded so that the tightening screw is difficult to turn.
It is also not uncommon for plugs at the rear end of the duct and/or in the grass bagger inlet of the grass bagger to occur more than once during a particular mowing job. If the grass conditions are conducive to the formation of plugs, then such plugs may occur relatively frequently. This requires the operator to stop and clear each plug as it occurs, which obviously necessitates loosening and retightening the hose clamp each time. It would be desirable to be able to remove the duct from the grass bagger inlet of the grass bagger more quickly and with less effort.